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Poster: elbow1126 Date: Mar 26, 2014 1:24pm
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Dumb 'Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings' question

May '77 was limited to 15000 boxes, the digital was not limited. The '73 box and the Winterland '77 box were not limited on release but they have a tendency to drop stuff from production.

I agree, i don't love the subscription combined with limited release. I have only purchased them last year and this year because i did the math and figured with the free shipping if they send me 3 shows i like, it pays off, especially if i like the bonus. Since they opened the last two years with a show i liked, i felt it was worth the risk.

I assume the limited edition thing makes sure they get there money in a timely fashion. Having product sit around for years cost them money, right? I am sure they have calculated exactly what they need to make and have decent feel for how much they can sell. I don't agree with you about millions of fans or at least i don't believe that millions of fans equates to millions of buyers. If that were the case, then things would sell out much quicker. Hard to believe they wouldn't sell 14000 Dave's Picks subscriptions if they had millions of people buying their products. The individual shows sell out quickly but i think they are only dealing with 4-5K at that point.

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Poster: Quasarider Date: Mar 27, 2014 7:18am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Dumb 'Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings' question

I agree they wouldn't sell millions of copies but I don't know why they limit sales to dead.net vs utilizing retail outlets as well, there are a great number of fans that probably never pay attention to what happens on dead.net. I know my friends have never even heard of Daves picks "who is Dave don't you mean Dick". You definitely wouldn't want a ton of excess inventory around but if the initial sales of a show sell out cant they just manufacture them in smaller quantities? It's crazy what these go for on eBay once there sold out.
If they wanted to make more money why is there such a hold up on releasing shows? It maybe the fact that the majority of people have already paid for these releases so no motivation. It may have to do with no one purchasing cds anymore but I personally would never pay money for a live download of a Dead show I want something to hold onto for that kind of $$.


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Poster: elbow1126 Date: Mar 27, 2014 8:00am
Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: Dumb 'Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings' question

There are starting to do this although maybe not in the most convenient way. All of the sudden you can get the whole Road Trips series as set at the iTunes Store. Not sure why they didn't let people purchase each release separately. Many of these are no longer available at dead.net (listed as sold out even though they weren't limited release). I recall a few months back there was chatter that they were going to start selling the E72 shows as downloads on amazon.com. I even remember seeing what appeared to be a sales site ready to go for this Spring but i think its gone.

I think the problem they have is if they sell something as limited edition then come back and sell more of it they have to significantly delay the non-limited releases or else no one will buy up the limited ones (SSDD deluxe didn't sell out yet but hit the Billboard list so lots of copies sold). They also have to somehow discriminate the limited release from the re-release other than just the numbering. They did this with E72 box, with the music only version, but the single show releases aren't much more than music anyways. Maybe they will do it by digital release only. If they don't do something significantly different then they lose credibility with the "limited" branding.

I assume Rhino knows what they are doing. They seem to have a pretty good business and a lot of experience dealing with older acts and niche markets. I don't know if they routinely use retail outlets or not. I know they do downloads from their own site for some artists. I also recall that the band was given guaranteed annual minimum payments that were pretty lucrative (i think it was compared to "peak of touring revenue") so both sides are pretty clear one what their bottom line is.